In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,037 I have disclosed a tool of this type with an elongate body terminating at a front end in a first gripping jaw and at a rear end in a first shank toward which a second shank, forming part of a handle pivotally mounted on the body, can be moved in order to clamp the end of a cable or similar workpiece between teeth of the first gripping jaw and of a coacting second gripping jaw also pivoted to the body. The operative connection between the handle and the second gripping jaw includes a camming mechanism which also controls a link member lying alongside the tool body, this link member being rigid with a first stripping jaw and being articulated to a second stripping jaw so as to pull these jaws rearwardly along respective guide tracks of the two gripping jaws in order to detach a piece of insulation from a cable end clamped by the teeth of the gripping jaws. A preliminary severing of that piece of insulation from the remainder of the cable can be accomplished by first inserting the cable into an outwardly diverging lateral recess formed between two confronting lands on the link member and on an associated guide member fastened to the tool body, the forwardly facing land of the guide member being sharpened to form a cutting edge which bites into the insulation of the cable as the handle is squeezed to retract the link member together with the stripping jaws.